HOW TO PROTECT INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN INDIA

Intellectual property (IP) is human-created art, literature, science, and technology. Intellectual property rights (IPR) grant the inventor or creator legal rights to safeguard his invention or creativity for a set time. These legal rights allow the inventor/creator or his assignee the exclusive right to use his invention/creation for a certain time. IP is crucial to contemporary economies. It’s also clear that innovation’s intellectual effort should be valued for public gain. R&D expenses and market entry investments have skyrocketed. The stakes of technology developers have grown quite high, therefore protecting information from illegal use has become expedient, at least for a while, to secure recovery of R&D and other related expenses and appropriate revenues for continued R&D expenditures. IPR gives the inventor/creator of an IP an exclusive right to utilize his invention/creation for a specified length of time, protecting his time, money, and effort. Consequently, IPR promotes healthy competition, industrial expansion, and economic development. This review covers IPR in medicines.

Efficient Techniques For Intellectual Property Protection

How can we defend against potential infringement of our intellectual property? The greatest approaches to safeguard intellectual property rights are as follows:

1. File for patents, trademarks, and copyrights

Via intellectual property rights and registrations, businesses may defend their key management and R&D activities. They also have a stronger negotiating position for cross-licensing and counterclaims. A company may use intellectual property rights and registrations to block rival products, discourage new competitors, and open up the market for future market share thanks to technical developments.

There are several different types of intellectual property rights, and each one includes the ability to sue if a third party violates them. Some of them include:

• Copyrights- They are a sort of intellectual property that protects original works of writing or creative expression. For literature, artwork, drawings, or a mix of these things created by a company, copyrights may be licenced.
• Trademark-These are brand names, icons, or logos that are used to identify the goods or services of a firm. A trademark is anything that is used to distinguish a collection of items, commodities, and services as coming from the same owner or source, including names, words, signatures, texts, emblems, paintings, figures, inscriptions, photographs, and advertising. The protection of the brand and the knowledge that other businesses cannot copy or mimic your trademark are only two of the numerous benefits of trademark registration in the United Arab Emirates. The government agency in charge of trademark registration, renewal, and revocation in the United Arab Emirates is the Ministry of Economy.
• Patents In general, patents are used to register innovations, things that are original and not well-known to the general public—as well as the processes by which they operate. To secure a patent, technical details regarding the invention must be made available to the public through a patent application.

2. Continue to innovate

In the majority of sectors, plagiarism will also be a concern. This helps to understand why the development of creativity occurs so quickly. If you had never-ending innovation cycles, your competitors would never be able to catch up to you. It would need your company to operate quickly and leanly, just like an Olympian.

3. Get Some Proof while advancing

Also, it happens often that competitors find out about an idea via leaks and apply for a patent claiming it as their own. As a result of it, you’ll now need to demonstrate that you are the legitimate owner. This may be done by keeping a record of the evidence that shows how intellectual property rights have changed (for example, dated and signed copies of drawings and drafts).

4. Different Teams

The technical teams should be physically separated, if at all possible, and it should be made clear that none of them has access to the whole product. All of these teams will need to cooperate in order to loot the whole product in order to violate the product’s sacredness and protection. A crucial information security paradigm that might help to secure intellectual property is the separation of obligations.

5. Have those who violate intellectual property rights punished

Keep your patent and trademarks secure, and defend your legal rights by reporting infractions and taking legal action against offenders when necessary.

6. Prevent Co-Owning Intellectual Property Rights.

Try to evade shared intellectual property rights. The ability to use your rights is always in your best interest. Joint ownership of such rights over time may result in misunderstandings and legal problems that endanger the security of these assets, harming all parties concerned.

7. Raise Employee Understanding of the Need for Intellectual Property Security

If awareness training is customised to the assets that a particular group of employees must safeguard, it will aid in resolving and preventing potential intellectual property violations. When you discuss something that engineers and scientists have spent a lot of time working on in tangible terms, people pay careful attention. As is often the case, humans are the weakest link in the chain of protection. Because of this, an IP security approach that ignores staff training and preparedness and instead exclusively depends on firewalls and copyrights will fail. Intellectual property (IP) is often lost by businesses due to error or ineptitude. Make sure the employees are aware of the ways they could mistakenly divulge IP.

8. Obtain Domain Names That Perfectly Match

One of the finest intellectual property protection methods for trademarks and copyrights, if at all feasible, is an exact-match domain name (that you already own). Despite the occasional cost, the long-term benefits are unparalleled.

9. Consider What Someone Might Do to Infringe on Your Intellectual Rights

If you needed to spy on your own affairs, what would you do? This will undoubtedly prompt you to think about contact list security, paper shredding in recycle bins, creating an internal council to review the R&D scientists’ publications, and other such business-friendly measures.

10. Ensure sure the intellectual property is owned in a way that permits future development.

The intellectual property rights need to be registered in a method that enables you to expand or change them as necessary. When engaged as an employee (for a company or academic institution, for example), the contract would almost certainly contain a provision discussing it if you discovered anything new. Most of the time, the employer will likely receive first dibs on the innovation, but there may be clauses in place allowing the employee to regain rights if the invention is not used within a certain period of time; in certain countries, this is codified in law.

11. Create robust confidentiality agreements

It is also a great choice to enlist the aid of a legal representative when creating the non-disclosure legal clauses, which must be precise and explicit. Always make sure that any additional contracts your business uses to safeguard its intellectual property do so. Contracts for services, licencing, and distribution are a few examples.

12. Speak with specialists on intellectual property

For assistance with searches and licencing, speak with a patent or trademark agent to make sure that any intellectual property you produce is properly protected. Think carefully about why you are protecting it since any money spent on intellectual property is money that cannot be spent on producing, promoting, or other things. In order to prevent others from imitating you, to add value to your company in the event that you want to sell it, to sell or licence to a third party, or even to maintain it in your legal arsenal in the event that you anticipate being sued and wish to file a counterclaim.

13. Distribute it as far as you can with credit

The best and safest approach to protect your non-trade secret IP in the UAE is to be the “first to apply” for a patent. Apart from this, another typical method to guarantee that your intellectual property is acknowledged as being yours is to publish and quote it widely, always making sure to provide credit to your company’s name wherever it is published. The more support your patent may get, the more people will notice your intellectual property online.

14. Don’t share your invention until you’ve submitted a patent application.

Make sure you never divulge your concept to anybody until it has been secured. This is due to the possibility that someone else may apply for a patent before you and so get ownership rights to it. An ancient saying goes, “A secret divulged is no longer a secret.” While discussing an invention under the protection of confidentiality is not a replacement for being able to freely discuss or publish an idea that is covered by a patent application, a secret shared under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) (documents that most people have heard of but probably never read) ought to remain secret.

15. Develop A Comprehensive Plan

Create a plan that addresses all forms of intellectual property, such as domain names, ideas, trade secrets, and all innovations and technologies.

Different Rights For IPR

1. 1957 Copyright Act

Copyright protects speech, not ideas. The Copyright Act protects “original literary, dramatic, musical and creative works; cinematograph films; and sound recording” under section 13. Computer programmes may be copyrighted. A copyright is a “exclusive right” to conduct or allow specified actions with the copyrighted work. For example, the owner (or authorised person) of a literary, theatrical, or musical work may perform, translate, adapt, etc.

Section 17 of the Copyright Act specifies that the initial owner of a copyrighted work is the author. The owner may also licence copyright to other parties in writing.

Published literary, theatrical, and artistic works are protected for 60 years after the author’s death.

Section 57 of the Copyright Act gives authors specific rights along with copyright protection. Even after transferring the copyright work to another person, the author/owner has the right to “claim authorship of the work” and “demand damages” for any “distortion, mutilation, or alteration” that harms the author’s reputation.

2. Trade Marks Act, 1999

A “trade mark” is “a mark capable of being represented graphically and which is capable of identifying the products or services of one person from those of others and may include form of items, their packaging and combination of colours,” according to section 2(zb) of the Trade Marks Act. A trademark protects symbols, colours, patterns, slogans, and more that signify a product or service.

Marks in use do not require trademark applications (but can also be filed in respect of marks which are intended to be used in the future). A trademark must be able to differentiate the goods/services from others and be pictorial. The Trade Marks Act prohibits registration if a mark is (a) not distinctive, (b) misleading and confusing to the public, (c) damaging to religious sensibilities, or (d) offensive, scandalous, or obscure. The Act includes absolute and relative reasons for registration rejection (viz. similarity with pre-existing marks).

India also signed the Madrid Protocol, which allows international trademark registration. Nevertheless, an international application under the Madrid Protocol must first be lodged in India.

Trademark registration protects the brand name, logo, sound, form, etc., and uniquely identifies the goods/services to the brand. A trademark registration is valid for 10 years, renewable for 10 years (subject to timely filing of renewal applications).

3. Patents Act, 1970

Patents safeguard fresh inventions. The exclusive right preserves the inventor’s rights and prohibits others from using and misappropriating the registered patent.

A patent lasts 20 years from application filing. It is important to note that a patent for a new invention is only registered if the invention is “novel” and “original,” i.e., it has not been introduced in the public domain in India or anywhere else; is “capable of industrial application,” meaning it can be used in an industry; and requires “inventive steps,” defined as “a feature of an invention that involves technical advance as

The Patents Act gives registered inventors various rights:

• with respect to a product patent, the right to prevent third parties from using, selling, making, importing, etc. the product without prior consent; and with respect to a process patent, the right to prevent third parties from using, selling, offering, etc. a product obtained from that process without prior consent of the original inventor.
• India also allows foreign patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). An innovator may get patent protection in numerous PCT nations by submitting such an application.

4. Design Act, 2000

The Designs Act [section 2(d)] defines a “design” as “only the features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornaments or composition of lines or colours, applied to any article whether in two-dimensional or three-dimensional or in both forms, by any industrial process or means, whether manual, mechanical or chemical, separate or combined, which in the finished article appeal to an are judged solely by the eye”.

The Controller-General of Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks accepts industrial design registration applications. However, a design shall only be considered for registration if (a) it is novel and an original innovation, i.e., it has not been produced before or reproduced by anyone; (b) it has not been disclosed to the public anywhere in India or outside India; and (c) it can be easily distinguished from other known designs.

By registering a design, the owner has protection for 10 years, which may be extended for 5 years with an application.

5. Geographical Indications of Products (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 (GI Act).

Origins make many Indian products popular. For example, “Darjeeling tea” is distinctive and famous due to its origin, the ability of Darjeeling tea producers, and the weather. Additional things that reflect their origin (or factors specific to the place of origin includes Banarsi Saree; Basmati Rice, etc).

‘An indication which identifies such goods as agricultural goods, natural goods or manufactured goods as originating, or manufactured in the territory of country, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of such goods is essentially attributable to its geographical origin and in case where such goods are manufactured goods one of the activities of either the production or The GI Act protects only agricultural, food, handicraft, manufactured, and natural items.

An application for GI Act registration must include a statement explaining how the geographical indication affects the origin of the good in terms of quality, characteristics, and reputation; the class of goods; the geographical indication’s appearance; and the map of the territory/area/country where the good originated.

A geographical indicator is protected for ten years, with the possibility to renew and extend it for another ten years after the initial registration expires.

6. Plant Varieties Act, 2001.

The Preservation of Plant Varieties and Farmer’s Right Act, 2007, recognises Indian farmers’ rights and protects plant varieties to promote their growth.

India joined TRIPS in 1994, which requires countries to safeguard plant varieties [Article 27(3)(b) of TRIPS]. The National Registry of Plant Varieties contains all protected plant varieties.

Breeders, farmers, and authorised individuals may register new plant varieties under the Plant Varieties Act. Novelty, uniqueness, consistency, and stability are required to register a new plant variety. The plant variety must not be marketed at the time of protection application to meet the novelty requirement. Distinctiveness also requires a differentiating characteristic from all other protected plant kinds. Uniformity indicates the plant variety must have all important traits. Finally, the registered plant variety must be “stable,” meaning its fundamental features must stay constant after repeated propagation.

Trees, vines, and crops may renew their plant variety protection registrations for nine or six years, respectively.

7. Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act, 2000 (SICLD Act).

A semiconductor integrated circuit is a product with transistors and other circuitry components inseparably produced on a semiconductor material or an insulating material or within the semiconductor material and intended to execute an electronic circuitry function.

All layout-designs eligible for registration under the SICLD Act must be unique, commercially unexploited in India and convention nations, naturally different, and recognisable from other registered layout-designs. The Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Registry’s Registrar must receive a written application for design layout registration from the applicant’s primary place of business.

Registered layout-designs get 10-year protection.

CONCLUSION

Patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets are some of the legal mechanisms that may be used to ensure the safety of intellectual property rights. These laws provide legal protection to the individuals who create intellectual property and restrict others from making use of, selling, or distributing the work of others without the creator’s consent. In addition, businesses may protect their intellectual property by implementing internal rules and processes to do so, such as confidentiality agreements, security measures, and monitoring for the usage of their intellectual property in unlawful ways. In general, it is crucial for people as well as companies to be aware of their rights and to take preventative measures in order to safeguard their intellectual property.